Overview

Private Thomas Leadbeater Turvey is nobody's idea of a capable recruit. Shifted from regimental pillar to post, Turvey tries and fails at every odd job in the army with a remarkable genius for mishap.
A casualty before he has a chance to see action, Turvey watches the maimed and dying return from the front; thus Earle Birney's comic masterpiece becomes an unforgettable indictment of war.
Turvey won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour in 1949.

From the Hardcover edition.

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9780771099533

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A Canadian version of No Time For Sergeants presents Turvey, Thomas Lead-beater, from his call-up to his separation with an eye for the ludicrous in his persistent determination to get into the Kootenay Highlanders. Unaggressive, willing, friendly, with a paralyzed grin when nervous, Turvey's troubles start with his examinations, continue through his training, and land him far from his goal when he goes overseas to further wild situations never of his own volition. Turvey's pal MacGillicuddy's slippery progress is the cause of many of Turvey's falls from grace, constant punishments and romantic adventures; accidents and ailments are instrumental, in providing much of Turvey's hospital harrowings; whether it is blackmarket, guns, trucks, doctors, officers, etc., etc., it is always Turvey who lands in the soup, although he somehow comes out with a better break than expected. This is robust, outspoken, soldier language in a variety of accents which enlarge its comic vein; its satire of military labyrinths is sharp but good humored; its hero's lunatic career equals that of Will Stockdale in Sergeants although its appeal may not be as wide in this country; and it is a specially funny book for Anglophiles. (Kirkus Reviews)

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